World's first in-car touchscreen found in 1987 Buick

By
Josée Paquet ,
2014-12-29

The folks at World Car Fans have stumbled upon a 2008 YouTube video in which the owner of a 1987 Buick Riviera plays around with the car’s touchscreen. While this technology is pretty common nowadays, it was an industry first at the time.

The Riviera's 3"x4" green and black screen used a cathode-ray tube like old computers. It allowed the driver to adjust climate control, verify the fuel level and see if any of the doors were opened, for example. But with a beep every time you touched the screen, our guess is that the system quickly became irritating.